I hate doing tech support

[pontifex]

nothing is worse than doing tech support for people (system admins) that should know better. Some of the questions I get from system admins are beyond ridiculous. and I bet these people get paid 3x or more more than me.

 

[fantolay]

I'd dig my heels in and say no. The situation you described is complete bullshit.

No offense, but is your mother fucking this guy? You put effort into making the computer and she gave it away without conferring with you at all. Time is money. The time spent building that computer is time you could've spent working. The time you will spend fixing it is time you could spend working.

Call bullshit on this one, don't be a bitch.

 

[ahenkel]

I'm unemployed at the moment, and all my family and their friends think I can and should be doing their tech support for free because hell I'm not busy anyway.

 

[rasczak]

I had a teacher I worked with, really nice guy, call me up for tech support one time. Kept hounding me and hounding me about coming over. First time I charged $25 for virus cleanup. 6 months later same guy, same issue, this time I charge $50 as he was really being inconvenient. He paid yet i could see he was starting to get hesitant. The third time he called I told him I was charging $150.00. $50 for travel fee, and $100.00 hourly rate. I haven't heard from him since.

 

[0roo0roo]

too bad you didn't make a system image..you should have assuming you built it for your mom, she mighta screwed up windows eventually herself after all. if you had a system image the best answer for free tech support for someone else is just that..restore from system image for every situation if they argue with you, they can go to best buy.

 

[Narse]

it's for my mom, I'm not going to tell her to get bent.

If your mom gave the computer away how is it for her? I would charge, I am not someone's free tech support. You help someone for free once they will walk all over you every time the computer does anything slightly wrong. Don't be stupid, charge them 50 bucks or so to fix it.

 

[Newbian]

I'd dig my heels in and say no. The situation you described is complete bullshit.

No offense, but is your mother fucking this guy? You put effort into making the computer and she gave it away without conferring with you at all. Time is money. The time spent building that computer is time you could've spent working. The time you will spend fixing it is time you could spend working.

Call bullshit on this one, don't be a bitch.

Maybe she just like likes the guy at this time.

 

[mjrpes3]

I've been on the internet for 15 years and have never had a major problem with a virus, trojan, or spyware... I don't understand why it's so hard for people not to be dumb.

It's not always so simple.

For instance, last year Microsoft started quietly installing an add-on to Firefox without users even knowing about it (came through on Windows update). Unfortunately, it had a serious flaw in it that led to "drive-by malware", where you get infected by just visiting a page:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/...efox-users-to-drive-by-malware-downloads/4614

I got caught by this in January and had to reinstall Windows because the infection was so bad... I could not get malwarebytes working ex post facto.

In the past I figured I didn't need to use resource-hogging virus protection as long as I didn't download stupid stuff and kept an updated browser and firewall... but this was a wake-up call that even add-ons from companies you think trustworthy can be dangerous. Best to have minimal add-ons.

 

[Kanalua]

$50 an hour

Cash.

 

[Leros]

2:31 - an e-mail about Mozilla Thunderbird having updated itself, and it evidently changed the way things looked. Included in this was the phrase, "In sorting it out, I looked at my various settings..."

2:36 - Settings still not quite the way she wanted them.

2:41 - She got it all figured out on her own.

That's usually what happens with my dad. When he's got me around or on the phone, he defaults to clueless. But if I'm not around, he often figures things out.

I found a good trick

Dad: I have problem XYZ
Me: Ok, <quick 10 second suggestion>, I can't help you now, I'll call you in an hour.

[1 hour later]

Me: How is the problem?
Dad: I fixed it.

 

[Jeff7]

Wow, she was just having an issue with one of Firefox's add-ons, and she was able to research the problem herself and fix it. Most excellent.


For my case, if I'm hung up on some screwy problem, I'll work on it awhile, then make a post on the forums here, and then continue working on it. Too often, I end up finding some bizarre and obscure problem, so the thread ends up with no reply - the OP just gets an edit though. "Edit: Nevermind, I found <solution> myself."

 

[dpodblood]

it's for my mom, I'm not going to tell her to get bent.

You don't have to tell your mom to get bent, but doing tech support for some random person just because you built the PC is a waste of time. If you do it you'll just be setting a precedent that somehow you are responsible for maintaining the machine. If you do choose to do it, it's because you chose not to say no. I hope you at least get paid for your efforts. I think $50/hr is pretty fair compared to the rate she will get at staples/bestbuy/whatever.

 

[child of wonder]

You don't have to tell your mom to get bent, but doing tech support for some random person just because you built the PC is a waste of time. If you do it you'll just be setting a precedent that somehow you are responsible for maintaining the machine. If you do choose to do it, it's because you chose not to say no. I hope you at least get paid for your efforts. I think $50/hr is pretty fair compared to the rate she will get at staples/bestbuy/whatever.

Exactly. Even though you don't think much of it, the ability to do even basic troubleshooting on a computer is a skill the vast majority of people lack. You deserve to be compensated for your time but your mother should also not whore you out to other people.

 

[Kirby]

That's usually what happens with my dad. When he's got me around or on the phone, he defaults to clueless. But if I'm not around, he often figures things out.

I found a good trick

Dad: I have problem XYZ
Me: Ok, <quick 10 second suggestion>, I can't help you now, I'll call you in an hour.

[1 hour later]

Me: How is the problem?
Dad: I fixed it.

My dad is similar, except if I'm not around he'll just buy a replacement. :awe:

 

[JTsyo]

My dad is similar, except if I'm not around he'll just buy a replacement. :awe:

wow that's pretty harsh. How many brothers do you have now?

 

[polarmystery]

n/m

 

[nick1985]

Just say no

 

[Cogman]

Thats not the worst. The worst is when you parents ask for help, but won't let you give it to them. My mom does this

Her: "How do you do X"
Me: "Here Let me show you"
Her: <Clings to the mouse and keyboard for dear life and won't do what I tell her>

It gets really frustrating, especially when it is something she has done 1,000,000 times. I think my mom's going senile.

 

[dainthomas]

it's for my mom, I'm not going to tell her to get bent.

It's not for your mom, it's for your mom's random friend. Can you not see the difference? Maybe you should ask her if she'd do some laundry for one of your random friends in exchange, perhaps then she will see the issue.

But you'll probably bend over and take it no matter what anyone says. Have fun giving permanent free tech support to every old lady in town. Hope you didn't like having a life.

 

[vshah]

I only do family/gf

of course, my family is in New Delhi, so it involves a LOT of logging in remotely to install device drivers etc.

 

[AstroManLuca]

grow some balls

OR

tell her to install Common Sense 2010

OR

tell her to install Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials

OR

ask for $50-$100/hr to go and fix it

 

[purbeast0]

so, back around christmas time, I built my mom a new computer. mostly just spare parts that I had laying around, but her computer was pretty old and it was a nice upgrade.

2 weeks later, my mom decided that she didn't want it, gave it to one of her coworkers, and bought herself a laptop. whatever.

fast forward to 7 months later, though, and said coworker is having problems with it (spyware and shit). because I built it, my mom's ambushed me into spending my weekend providing tech support for this person that I barely know

I've been on the internet for 15 years and have never had a major problem with a virus, trojan, or spyware... I don't understand why it's so hard for people not to be dumb. and I don't get why I'm supposed to give up one of my nights off to help someone I've never met just because my mom gave away her computer to someone else. it's not like I have special, mystical computer knowledge. all I'm going to do is type whatever the problem is into google and cross my fingers.

lol you sound like a huge pushover.

 

[nick1985]

lol you sound like a huge pushover.

Yep. OP will be made a bitch and slunk his way over there with his tail between his legs and fix it for free. Everyone knows this.

 

[nageov3t]

Yep. OP will be made a bitch and slunk his way over there with his tail between his legs and fix it for free. Everyone knows this.

my mom told the person that I'd fix it. the person brought it over the computer over to my parents' house and left it there.

refusing to do it unless I'm getting paid after my mother already promised that I would makes her look bad and I'm not going to make my mom look like an asshole.

 

[kalrith]

Well ... Don't do it then. Grow a pair on the outside.

Just say NO.

This. Or say that you charge $60/hour for tech support, paid in advance. I guarantee you that you won't be doing the tech support for her.

Edit: And even when I build computers for friends (and am paid for it), I let them know very clearly that the small cost for building the computer does not include free tech support for life!